Movies being one of the most marketed commodities in the country, an apparent visual attraction and a reference point emerging out of it is fashion. Many style trends are driven by what actors wear on-screen. The lack of an avenue to connect the public interests and movie stylists was a void that Sankar Prasad Chilamkurthi, a IIIT product, intended to fill through Starobe. The online fashion portal ties up with production houses backing Telugu movies, interacts with stylists and makes fashion accessories worn by the lead actors in the films accessible to public. The merchandise steps beyond clothing too comprising eye wear, footwear and other minimal accessories.
“Many people would want to wear that particular shirt of a star; but because they don’t know the brand and its availability, they end up buying options that are similar to the shirt,” Sankar says. Neither the customer is really fulfilling his aspiration nor does the stylist gain much with the duplicates in the market. Starobe is conceived as a bridge that connects people's aspirations to the real products in the movies. They don't do replicas or manufacture, but only get in touch with the production houses and brands used for a particular movie. One of their ideas is also to drive away the misconception that costumes used in films are heavily priced.
Sankar also saw this as a channel to help movies create a new direction of marketing. “Music, teaser, trailers are selling points for a movie, but the most visible aspect coming out of a movie is its fashion accessories. We did research for a year on how movie fashion works.” The major challenges being that doors to the movie industry aren't open for all, especially if they don't come from a film background. Reaching out to people, convincing them about its potential wasn't easy to begin with, given this is a small chunk of a business that ranges in crores. “This is something that could evolve over time.”
Not many know who styles Hrithik Roshan or Allu Arjun; Starobe could help stylists reach out to every movie-goer in the country. “Initially, we chose the movies we wanted to work with, then caught hold of assistant directors/other connections for a five-minute appointment to convince people. We also discuss with the stylist on how styling a particular actor has been approached in the film.”
Clearly star value is their selling point; the bigger the star, the wider customer base you have. Their lineup of movies including Brahmotsavam, Bruce Lee, Nannaku Prematho, Janatha Garage, MLA, Chal Mohan Ranga, Krishnarjuna Yuddham, Tholi Prema, Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, Express Raja, Size Zero to name a few prove that.
Starobe mostly looks at contemporary movies. The online marketing boom was a factor that helped their cause. “It's not an easy business to get into, unless you have good connections. The difficulty and the money involved here prevents many from coming into the industry. Business can only flourish when you can organise a part of the unorganised sector. This involves a lot of follow-up, talks, all this hard work deters many to venturing into this segment.”
- Many of their orders come from tier-2 towns, ranging from Visakhapatnam, Rajamundry, Eluru, Vijayawada and Nizamabad.
- Janatha Garage is the biggest film for Starobe in terms of the sales.
- A section in Starobe has users buying the actual shirt worn by celebrities in the film. Instead of auctioning it, Starobe goes for a time-bound, first-come-first-serve model.
They are always prepared for the pitfall of the commercial success/failure of a film, it could affect their website too. “When a movie flops, people hesitate to associate with that movie. Hits means better numbers for us. We work with only lead actors for their reach.”
They're looking to move towards stylist and actor-specific models besides movies in the future. Starobe plans to get into non-Telugu movies and television to begin with. They intend the portal to be the first reference point for movie fashion. Starobe features products ranging from ₹150 to 25000 and ships for free throughout the country and in select cases, abroad too. “Menswear dominate the products we have. Women wear in films continues to have only a niche audience. Moving ahead, we want to get to a place where we dress up the stars.” (Readers can visit the site here )
